The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Magnolia laevifolia (synonym Michelia yunnanensis) and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Free Spirit’. ‘Free Spirit’ is a new cultivar of evergreen shrub grown for use as an ornamental landscape plant.
The Inventor discovered the new cultivar in summer of 1996 s a naturally occurring whole plant mutation in a seedbed at his nursery in Lytterton, New Zealand. The seedbed had been planted with seeds collected from an unnamed plant of Magnolia laevifolia. The male parent is unknown.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished under the direction of the Inventor using in vitro propagation in November of 2008 in Hastings, New Zealand. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.